Methods and systems for editing a network of interconnected concepts

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods that create and edit a network of interconnected concepts are disclosed. In one embodiment, a semantic engine implements a method comprising receiving a primary term representing a first concept to be added to a network of interrelated concepts, receiving at least one related term related to the primary term, receiving at least one relationship between the first concept and a second concept, receiving a strength value associated with the relationship, and adding the first concept to the network.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/493,701 filed Jan. 28, 2000 entitled“Meaning-Based Advertising and Relevance Determination,” which is is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,315 filed Nov. 1, 1999entitled “Meaning-Based Information Organization and Retrieval,” whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.60/155,667 filed Sep. 22, 1999, all of which are hereby incorporated intheir entirety by this reference, and this application claims priorityto U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/491,422 filed Jul.30, 2003 entitled “Systems and Methods of Organizing and RetrievingInformation Based on Meaning,” which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by this reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The invention generally relates to a network of interconnectedconcepts. More particularly, the invention relates to methods andsystems for editing a network of interconnected concepts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Improving mechanisms for searching vast numbers of documents,such as those available via the World Wide Web (“web”) or on largeenterprise computer networks, has increasingly been an area of focus andresearch. This is especially due to the continued growth in the numberof computer users, services and applications offered for example on theweb, and the amount of information being added to the web, enterprisecomputer networks and other databases.

[0004] A search engine or search engine program is a widely usedmechanism for allowing users to search vast numbers of documents forinformation. Conventional search engines index the documents and theterms appearing in the documents. A term can be a string of charactersor groups of strings of characters representing a one or more relatedwords. Generally, a search engine provides a user interface thatincludes a query field. A user can enter one or more search termsdescribing the desired information in the query field. In response to aquery, the search engine attempts to locate relevant documents bymatching the search terms to the indexed terms appearing in thedocuments. Based on these matches, the search engine ranks, sorts andthen returns for display the search results, usually as a list ofrelevant documents.

[0005] Typically, the concept or concepts represented by the searchterms or the terms in the documents are not taken into account. Aconcept can be a normalized semantic representation that can beexpressed with any number of terms. Methods of complex searching exist,but most of these methods of complex searching are term based. Forexample, an advanced Boolean search or an advanced text search are bothbased on terms and not concepts. With a term search, documents areconverted into a list of terms with relative rankings and the document'sterms are compared with the search terms. Term searches can provide poorresults when faced with terms having multiple meanings, the use ofsynonyms, and important terms that are not used frequently. Further, itis difficult to search for a concept using term-based searching methods.For example, if it is desired to search all documents that mention theconcept “California cities”, each city must be enumerated as a searchterm.

[0006] In order to provide a concept-based search, a search engine canutilize a network of concepts. While such networks of concepts exist,these conventional networks generally associate concepts in ahierarchical fashion and provide no weight to the associations. Further,such conventional networks of concepts are not easily editable.

SUMMARY

[0007] Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systemsfor editing a network of interconnected concepts. In one embodiment, asemantic engine implements a method comprising receiving a primary termrepresenting a first concept to be added to a network of interrelatedconcepts, receiving at least one related term related to the primaryterm, receiving at least one relationship between the first concept anda second concept, receiving a strength value associated with therelationship, and adding the first concept to the network. In anotherembodiment, a semantic engine implements a method comprising receiving arequest to edit a first concept in a network of interrelated concepts,causing the display of the first concept, receiving a request to add atleast one relationship between the first concept and a second concept,receiving a strength value associated with the relationship, andupdating the first concept in the network. Additional aspects of thepresent invention are directed to computer systems and tocomputer-readable media having features relating to the foregoingaspects.

[0008] Further details and advantages of embodiments of the presentinvention are set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention are better understood when the following Detailed Descriptionis read with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0010]FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a system in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

[0011]FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a portion of a relationship-basedontology in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

[0012]FIG. 3 illustrates an example of bond strength and semanticdistance in a portion of a relationship-based ontology in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

[0013]FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary concept view in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

[0014]FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of a method in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The present invention comprises methods and systems for editing anetwork of interconnected concepts. In one embodiment, a semantic engineallows for the creation and editing of concepts in a network ofinterconnected concepts or ontology. The concepts can be defined by asynset or a group of related terms, such as synonyms and acronyms,relationships, both hierarchical and lateral, with other concepts, andthe strength of the relationships with other concepts. The semanticengine allows for the creation or editing of a concept by allowing auser to define the related terms, the relationships with other concepts,and the strength of the relationships.

[0017] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments ofthe invention as illustrated in the text and accompanying drawings. Thesame reference numbers are used throughout the drawings and thefollowing description to refer to the same or like parts.

[0018] Various systems in accordance with the present invention may beconstructed. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary system inwhich exemplary embodiments of the present invention may operate. Thepresent invention may operate, and be embodied in, other systems aswell.

[0019] The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes multiple client devices102 a-n, a server device 104 and a network 106. The network 106 showncan be the Internet. In other embodiments, other networks, such as anintranet may be used. Moreover, methods according to the presentinvention may operate in a single computer. The client devices 102 a-nshown each include a computer-readable medium, such as a random accessmemory (RAM) 108 in the embodiment shown, coupled to a processor 110.The processor 110 executes a set of computer-executable programinstructions stored in memory 108. Such processors may include amicroprocessor, an ASIC, and state machines. Such processors include, ormay be in communication with, media, for example computer-readablemedia, which stores instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to perform the steps described herein. Embodimentsof computer-readable media include, but are not limited to, anelectronic, optical, magnetic, or other storage or transmission devicecapable of providing a processor, such as the processor in communicationwith a touch-sensitive input device, with computer-readableinstructions. Other examples of suitable media include, but are notlimited to, a floppy disk, CD-ROM, magnetic disk, memory chip, ROM, RAM,an ASIC, a configured processor, all optical media, all magnetic tape orother magnetic media, or any other medium from which a computerprocessor can read instructions. Also, various other forms ofcomputer-readable media may transmit or carry instructions to acomputer, including a router, private or public network, or othertransmission device or channel, both wired and wireless. Theinstructions may comprise code from any computer-programming language,including, for example, C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, Java, Python, Perl,and JavaScript.

[0020] Client devices 102 a-n may also include a number of external orinternal devices such as a mouse, a CD-ROM, a keyboard, a display, orother input or output devices. Examples of client devices 102 a-n arepersonal computers, digital assistants, personal digital assistants,cellular phones, mobile phones, smart phones, pagers, digital tablets,laptop computers, a processor-based device and similar types of systemsand devices. In general, a client device 102 a-n may be any type ofprocessor-based platform connected to a network 106 and that interactswith one or more application programs. The client devices 102 a-n showninclude personal computers executing a user interface applicationprogram and/or a browser application program such as Internet Explorer™,version 6.0 from Microsoft Corporation, Netscape Navigator™, version 7.1from Netscape Communications Corporation, and Safari™, version 1.0 fromApple Computer. Through the client devices 102 a-n, users 112 a-n cancommunicate over the network 106 with each other and with other systemsand devices coupled to the network 106.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 1, server device 104 is also coupled to thenetwork 106. The server device 104 shown includes a server executing asemantic engine program. The system 100 can also include multiple otherserver devices. Similar to the client devices 102 a-n, the server device104 shown includes a processor 116 coupled to a computer readable memory118. The server device 104 is depicted as a single computer system, butmay be implemented as a network of computer processors. Examples ofserver device 104 are servers, mainframe computers, networked computers,a processor-based device and similar types of systems and devices.Client processors 110 and server processor 116 can be any of a number ofwell known computer processors, such as processors from IntelCorporation of Santa Clara, Calif. and Motorola Corporation ofSchaumburg, Ill.

[0022] Memory 118 of the server device 104 contains a semantic engineapplication program, also known as a semantic engine 120. The semanticengine 120 manages and provides access to a network of interconnectedconcepts or ontology. In one embodiment, the semantic engine 120 alsocan index articles and concepts found in articles to enable the locationand retrieval of information. Articles include, documents, for example,web pages of various formats, such as HTML, XML, XHTML, PortableDocument Format (PDF) files, and word processor, database, andapplication program document files, audio, video, or any otherinformation of any type whatsoever made available on a network (such asthe Internet or intranet), a personal computer, or other computing orstorage means. The embodiments described herein are described generallyin relation to documents, but embodiments may operate on any type ofarticle.

[0023] The semantic engine 120 shown includes a concept processor 130,which, in the embodiment shown, comprises computer code residing in thememory 118. The concept processor 130 can edit and create concepts in anetwork of interconnected concepts based on information received from aclient device 102 a input by a user 112 a. The client processor 130 canhave a user interface application that allows user 112 a via the clientdevice 102 a to interact with the concept processor 130 to edit existingconcepts and create new concepts in the ontology.

[0024] Server device 104 also provides access to other storage elements,such as a concept storage element, in the example shown a conceptdatabase 122. The concept database 120 can be used to store theontology. The concept database can be located in memory 118 as shown orcan be located external to server device 104. Data storage elements mayinclude any one or combination of methods for storing data, includingwithout limitation, arrays, hash tables, lists, and pairs. Other similartypes of data storage devices can be accessed by the server device 104.

[0025] It should be noted that the present invention may comprisesystems having different architecture than that which is shown inFIG. 1. For example, in some systems according to the present invention,the semantic engine 120 may not be on a single server device 104, butmay be on multiple server devices. The system 100 shown in FIG. 1 ismerely exemplary, and is used to explain the exemplary methods shown inFIGS. 5 and 6.

[0026] As explained above, the concept database 122 can contain anontology that can describe a semantic space that can be employed tofacilitate concept-based location and retrieval of information. Theontology consists of a plurality of concepts, which are connected to oneanother through many different types of relationships, such as, forexample, “kind of”, “has kind”, “part of”, “has part”, “member of”, “hasmember”, “substance of”, “has substance”, “product of”, and “hasproduct”. For example, the concept of “table” is connected to theconcept of “furniture” through a “kind of” connection. Thus, “table” isa “kind of” “furniture”. Similarly, “California” is a part of the“United States”, the “United States” has part “California”, the “UnitedStates” is a member of the “NATO”, and “NATO” has member “UnitedStates”.

[0027] The ontology according to one embodiment of the present inventionalso includes bind or lateral bond relationships between concepts. Alateral bond relationship describes one concept's closeness to anotherin an average person's common understanding. For example, “skier” and“skiing” are not closely related concepts in conventional ontologies.The former is a kind of “athlete”, ultimately a kind of “human being”;and thus would reside within the “entity” or “living thing” tree. Thelatter is a kind of “sport”, ultimately a kind of “activity”; it is inthe “actions” tree. Though the subjects are closely related in everydayusage, they may be in widely separated locations within a conventionalontology. To remedy this, a bind or lateral bond can be made between thetwo concepts, to reflect their close proximity in semantic space (whenan average person thinks of one concept, the person tends to think ofthe other).

[0028] The relationships between elements may take on many forms and canbecome quite complex, but for ease of illustration, a simple example isillustrated by FIG. 2. The boxed elements in FIG. 2 represent meaningswithin the ontology and collectively, along with the relationshipconnections between meanings can be viewed as defining a semantic space.The relationship types “part of”, “kind of” and “lateral bond” arerepresented by differing line types in FIG. 2, a legend for which isdrawn thereon.

[0029] The example in FIG. 2 concerns skiing. Starting with the branchfor “sport”, “skiing” is defined in the ontology 200 as a kind of“sport”. The word “ski” typically, in its noun form, can be thought ofas related to “skiing” in that it is a “part of” “skiing” as shown inFIG. 2. “Slalom skiing” is a type of skiing and hence a “kind of”connection is shown between it and “skiing”. “Bindings” are a structuralattachment on a ski, and hence it is assigned a “part of” connectionwith “ski”. The example of a specific brand of ski, “K2 ski,” is givento show how it is in a “kind of” connection with “ski”.

[0030] “K2 ski” is also assigned a lateral bond showing a conceptualcommonness with the manufacturer of the ski “K2” which lies in the“company” branch. The lateral bond can be, for example, “product of”.The company branch has a child “athletic equipment company” as a “kindof” “company.” “Athletic equipment company” has as its child in turn the“K2” company.

[0031] Considering “ski” once again, “ski” is also a child of the“equipment” branch which has “athletic equipment” as a “kind of”“equipment” and ski as a “kind of” “athletic equipment”. “Surfboard” isrelated to “ski” in that it too is a “kind of” “athletic equipment”.Target documents or nodes within a subject directory may be “placed” or“located” by human intervention or automatically into the semantic spaceas defined by ontology 200. A document containing information concerningthe sale of skis or skiing destinations would fall somewhere within thedefined semantic space based upon its focus of content.

[0032] The ontology according to one embodiment of the present inventionalso includes bond strength between concepts. A value can be assigned toa connection from one concept to another that signifies how strongly thesecond meaning relates to the first. These connections can be dependanton the direction of the bond, so that, for example, “skier” might implya strong connection to “skiing”, whereas “skiing need not imply “skier”to the same degree.

[0033]FIG. 3 illustrates an example of bond strengths and semanticdistances between the concepts illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 illustrateshow distance and closeness of meaning between concepts can be quantifiedwithin the semantic space. Distances are shown between the element “ski”and all other elements within the semantic space. Using three classes ofbond strengths the degree of closeness between concepts may bediscovered. A “strong relationship” exists between “ski” and “skiing” asdoes between “ski” and “athletic equipment.” Between “skiing” and“sport” there is a weaker than strong relationship known as a “mediumrelationship”. This is because when the average person thinks of theroot term “skiing” they do not typically think also of “sport”. Goingfrom “ski” to “skiing” however, the average person would more likelyassociate or think “skiing” if given the term “ski”. The direction ofthe arrows in the bond strengths indicates the direction of association.For example, “A→B” in FIG. 3 means that given the concept A, how likelyis it or closely would an average person associate the concept B. Goingthe other direction between the same two concepts may produce adifferent bond strength.

[0034] A “weak relationship” is displayed between “ski” and “K2 ski”(when an average person thinks of “ski,” “K2 ski” does not closely cometo mind). However, if an average person were to go from “K2 ski” to“ski” this might be construed as a strong relationship since they wouldnaturally associate “ski” if given “K2 ski”.

[0035]FIG. 3 also shows semantic distances between concepts. “Ski” and“skiing” have only a distance of two between them while “skiing” and“sport” have a distance of five (seven minus two). The distance between“ski” and “sport” is seven. When traveling from parent to child orvice-versa, the distances can be simply added/subtracted but whenchanging the direction of travel, a penalty may be imposed upon thedistance calculation. Take, for example, the distance between “ski” and“athletic equipment company”. Judging merely on a linear basis, thedistance might be twelve. But since the path from “ski” to “athleticequipment” switches direction twice (it starts down to “K2 ski” and thenacross the lateral bond to “K2” and then up to “athletic equipmentcompany”) a penalty or scaling factor can cause the distance between“ski” and “athletic equipment” to be much larger than just twelveespecially given their lack of connectedness. As described above,penalties may be added when the direction of traversal is switched orwhen a lateral bond is crossed. Distances between concepts may becalculated and stored for future use. Semantic distances can bedetermined in a variety of ways, such as, for example, as described inU.S. Pat. No. 6,453,315, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

[0036] The concept processor 130 can update and expand the ontology toinclude new concepts or update relationships and other information forconcepts already present. Concepts can be updated or added to reflectthe changes in everyday culture or for a particular enterprise. Forexample, if a new ski manufacturer comes into existence called “Big Ski”this concept can be added to the ontology by a user. The user can definethe relationships of other concepts to “Big Ski” and the strength ofthese relationships as well as other data that defines the concept.

[0037] Concepts can be presented to a user 112 a on a client device 102a in a concept view, such as a concept window. FIG. 4 illustrates anexample of a concept window 400. The concept window 400 shows an exampleof a concept definition for “The United States”. The primary term isshown at 402 and is “The United States”. The primary term 402 alsoindicates the part of speech and provides a context for the concept (orrefinition).

[0038] The concept window 400 shown further provides a concept detailssection 401 and a concept relationships section 412. The concept detailssection 401 can display various details of the concept. For example, at404 the group of related terms associated with the concept is shown. Thepart of speech is shown at 406 and indicates that the concept shown is anoun. Refinition is showed at 408 and user data is shown at 410. Therefinition box can be used to provide a context for the concept and theuser data box can be used to further describe the concept.

[0039] The relationships for the concept are shown in the relationshipsection 412. The concept origin is shown at 414. The variousrelationships for the concept are shown in boxes 416, 418, and 420. Inbox 416, the parents of the concept are displayed and in box 420,children of the concept are displayed. Parent concepts and childrenconcepts are concepts with a hierarchical relationship with the originconcept. In box 418, concepts having a lateral relationship with theorigin concept are displayed

[0040] Various methods in accordance with the present invention may becarried out. For example, in one embodiment a user request to create afirst concept in a network of interrelated concepts is received, aconcept view, such as a concept creation window, is displayed, a primaryterm representing the first concept is received, at least one relatedterm associated with the primary term is received, at least onerelationship between the first concept and a second concept is received,a strength value associated with the relationship is received, and thefirst concept is added to the network. In one embodiment, therelationship can be hierarchical or lateral and can be selected from oneof the following: kind of, has kind, part of, has part, member of, hasmember, substance of, has substance, product of, and has product.

[0041] In another embodiment, a request to edit a first concept in anetwork of interrelated concepts is received, the first concept isdisplayed, at least one relationship between the first concept and asecond concept is received, a strength value associated with therelationship is received, an edited strength value for an existingrelationship between the first concept and another concept is received,and the first concept is updated in the network.

[0042] In one embodiment, information defining a part of speech of thefirst concept, information defining a frequency of the primary term,information defining a likelihood that the primary term and the relatedterms imply the first concept, information defining a breadth of thefirst concept, information that the first concept is offensive, userdata, and context information, such as refinition, can also be receivedin order to create or edit the first concept.

[0043]FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary method 500 that provides a methodfor creating concepts in a network of interconnected concepts orontology. This exemplary method is provided by way of example, as thereare a variety of ways to carry out methods according to the presentinvention. The method 500 shown in FIG. 5 can be executed or otherwiseperformed by any of various systems. The method 500 is described belowas carried out by the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 by way of example, andvarious elements of the system 100 are referenced in explaining theexample method of FIG. 5.

[0044] In 502, a request signal from a user to create a concept term isreceived by the semantic engine 120. The request signal can be createdby a user interface application on client device 102 a through inputfrom the user 112 a and passed to the server device 104 via the network106.

[0045] In response to the signal, the concept processor 130 can cause,in 504, a concept view, such as a concept creation window, to bedisplayed on the client device 102 a. The user 112 a can be prompted forthe entry of a variety of information in order to define the concept bythe concept creation window. The information that defines the conceptcan include: a primary term used to identify the concept; a group ofterms related to the primary term, such as synonyms and acronyms;related concepts and the relationship of the created concept to therelated concepts; and the strength of these relationships. Theinformation that defines the concept can also include: the part ofspeech of the concept; the frequency of the primary term; the likelihoodthat the primary term and the related terms imply the concept; thebreadth or focus of the concept; the offensive nature of the concept;and the literal nature of the primary term. A concept definition canalso include user data and a refinition.

[0046] In defining a new concept, a user can input a primary termassociated with the concept in the concept creation window. The primaryterm can be the term most frequently associated with the concept. Next,a user can input a group of terms related to the primary term that arealso associated with the concept in the concept creation window. Forexample, the related terms can be synonyms or acronyms of the primaryterm.

[0047] A user 112 a can also input concepts related to the createdconcept and provide relationship types for each related concept. Therelationships can include: “kind of”; “has kind”; “part of”; “has part”;“member of”; “has member”; “substance of”; “has substance”; “productof”; and “has product”. Relationship types can also be specialized orcustomized, such as “causes symptom” and “symptom caused by” for apharmaceutical or medical concept. The relationship type can also be“single concept” for concepts unrelated to others. In one embodiment,the user 112 a can define the related concept by typing it in a relatedconcept box and then defining the relationship type by choosing arelationship type from a drop down list.

[0048] For every relationship type, the user 112 a can assign a strengthto the relationship. The strength can be representative of how strongthe relationship is. In one embodiment, the strength represents thedistance in semantic space the created concept is from the relatedconcept.

[0049] The user 112 a can also input other information to define theconcept. For example, the part of speech of the concept can be provided.A frequency of the primary term can be provided to represent thefrequency of the primary term in normal usage or in the sourcedocuments. A probability can be provided of the likelihood that theprimary term and the related terms imply the concept. The user canspecify the breadth or focus of the concept and indicate whether theconcept is offensive. The user 112 a can also specify whether to matchterms associated with the concept literally or can define non-literalacronym and abbreviation rules. The user can also provide user data andcontext for the concept (or refinition).

[0050] After the user 112 a has defined the concept, the user 112 a canrequest through the client device 102 a that the concept be added to theontology. This request can cause the data input by the user 112 a in theconcept creation window to be sent from the client device 102 a via thenetwork 106 to the semantic engine 120. In 508, the concept processor130 can create a new concept in the ontology from the data received fromthe client device 102 a and can add the concept to the ontology in theconcept database 122.

[0051]FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary method 600 that provides a methodfor editing concepts in an ontology. This exemplary method is providedby way of example, as there are a variety of ways to carry out methodsaccording to the present invention. The method 600 shown in FIG. 6 canbe executed or otherwise performed by any of various systems. The method600 is described below as carried out by the system 100 shown in FIG. 1by way of example, and various elements of the system 100 are referencedin explaining the example method of FIG. 6.

[0052] In 602, a request signal to edit a concept from a user 112 a isreceived by the semantic engine 120. The request signal can be createdby a user interface application on client device 102 a through inputfrom the user 112 a. This request signal can include the concept to beedited and is passed to server device 104 via the network 106.

[0053] In response to the signal, the concept processor 130 can verifythat the concept requested exists and can cause in 604 a concept editorwindow to be displayed on client device 102 a. The concept editor windowdisplays the concept definition that the user has requested to edit. Auser can edit the various information used to define a concept asdescribed above.

[0054] A user can edit the group of terms related to the primary termthat are associated with the concept. For example, the user can addadditional terms or delete related terms, such as synonyms or acronyms,of the primary term.

[0055] A user can also input additional concepts related to the editedconcept, input relationship types for each related concept, and editexisting concepts and relationship types. In one embodiment, a user candefine and/or edit the relationship type by choosing a relationship typefrom a drop down list. For the relationship types in the conceptdefinition, the user can assign and edit a strength of the relationship.The user 112 a can also input and edit other information in order toedit the concept as described above.

[0056] After the user 112 a has edited the concept, the user 112 a canrequest through the client device 102 a that the edited concept be addedto the ontology. This request can cause the data input by the user inthe concept edit window to be sent from the client device 102 a via thenetwork 106 to the semantic engine 120. In 606, the edited concept isreceived by the semantic engine 120. In 608, the concept processor 130can replace the concept in the ontology with the edited concept receivedfrom the user 112 a or can add the edited data received from the user112 a to the concept in the ontology.

[0057] While the above description contains many specifics, thesespecifics should not be construed as limitations on the scope of theinvention, but merely as exemplifications of the disclosed embodiments.Those skilled in the art will envision many other possible variationsthat are within the scope of the invention.

That which is claimed:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving a primary termrepresenting a first concept to be added to a network of interrelatedconcepts; receiving at least one related term associated with theprimary term; receiving at least one relationship between the firstconcept and a second concept; receiving a strength value associated withthe relationship; and adding the first concept to the network.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a user request tocreate the first concept; and causing a display of a concept view. 3.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information defininga part of speech of the first concept.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe relationship can be hierarchical or lateral.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the relationship is selected from one of the following: kindof, has kind, part of, has part, member of, has member, substance of,has substance, product of, and has product.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving information defining a frequency of theprimary term.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receivinginformation defining a likelihood that the primary term and the relatedterms imply the first concept.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving information defining a breadth of the firstconcept.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receivinginformation that the first concept is offensive.
 10. The method of claim1, further comprising receiving user data.
 11. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving context information.
 12. A method,comprising: receiving a request to edit a first concept in a network ofinterrelated concepts; causing a display of the first concept; receivingat least one relationship between the first concept and a secondconcept; receiving a strength value associated with the relationship;and updating the first concept in the network.
 13. The method of claim12, further comprising receiving an edited strength value for anexisting relationship between the first concept and another concept. 14.The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving an editedrelationship for an existing relationship between the first concept andanother concept.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the relationshipcan be hierarchical or lateral.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein therelationship is selected from one of the following: kind of, has kind,part of, has part, member of, has member, substance of, has substance,product of, and has product.
 17. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising receiving information editing a frequency of the primaryterm.
 18. The method of claim 12, further comprising receivinginformation editing a likelihood that a primary term and related termsimply the first concept.
 19. The method of claim 12, further comprisingreceiving information editing a breadth of the first concept.
 20. Acomputer-readable medium containing program code, comprising: programcode for receiving a primary term representing a first concept to beadded to a network of interrelated concepts; program code for receivingat least one related term associated with the primary term; program codefor receiving at least one relationship between the first concept and asecond concept; program code for receiving a strength value associatedwith the relationship; and program code for adding the first concept tothe network.
 21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, furthercomprising: program code for receiving a user request to create thefirst concept; and program code for causing a display of a concept view.22. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising programcode for receiving information defining a part of speech of the firstconcept.
 23. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, wherein therelationship can be hierarchical or lateral.
 24. The computer-readablemedium of claim 20, wherein the relationship is selected from one of thefollowing: kind of, has kind, part of, has part, member of, has member,substance of, has substance, product of, and has product.
 25. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising program codefor receiving information defining a frequency of the primary term. 26.The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising programcode for receiving information defining a likelihood that the primaryterm and the related terms imply the first concept.
 27. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising program codefor receiving information defining a breadth of the first concept. 28.The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising programcode for receiving information that the first concept is offensive. 29.The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising programcode for receiving user data.
 30. The computer-readable medium of claim20, further comprising program code for receiving refinitioninformation.
 31. A computer-readable medium containing program code,comprising: program code for receiving a request to edit a first conceptin a network of interrelated concepts; program code for causing adisplay of the first concept; program code for receiving a request toadd at least one relationship between the first concept and a secondconcept; program code for receiving a strength value associated with therelationship; and program code for updating the first concept in thenetwork.
 32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, furthercomprising program code for receiving an edited strength value for anexisting relationship between the first concept and another concept. 33.The computer-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising programcode for receiving an edited relationship for an existing relationshipbetween the first concept and another concept.
 34. The computer-readablemedium of claim 31, wherein the relationship can be hierarchical orlateral.
 35. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, wherein therelationship is selected from one of the following: kind of, has kind,part of, has part, member of, has member, substance of, has substance,product of, and has product.
 36. The computer-readable medium of claim31, further comprising program code for receiving information editing afrequency of the primary term.
 37. The computer-readable medium of claim31, further comprising program code for receiving information editing alikelihood that a primary term and related terms imply the firstconcept.
 38. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, furthercomprising program code for receiving information editing a breadth ofthe first concept.